# Email Address Validator (`scrapier/email-address-validator`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapier/email-address-validator.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrapier](https://apify.com/scrapier) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Lead generation, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## 📧 Email Address Validator — Bulk MX, Disposable & Role Detection

A blazing-fast, production-grade **email validation actor** that scores any list of email addresses and tells you which ones are worth keeping. Built for marketers, sales teams, fraud-prevention engineers, and anyone who needs to clean a contact list before it costs real money.

### ⚡ Why choose this Actor?

- 🚀 **Built for bulk** — async DNS lookups, in-memory de-duplication and caching, configurable concurrency up to 50.
- 🧠 **4 independent checks** — syntax, MX records, disposable domains, role-based addresses — each weighted into a single risk score.
- 🚫 **5,400+ disposable domains** tracked out of the box (Mailinator, 10MinuteMail, Guerrilla Mail and friends).
- 👥 **Role-based detection** with fuzzy matching — catches `info+sales@`, `support.team@`, `noreply2@`, etc.
- 🌍 **Smart proxy fallback** — starts direct, escalates to datacenter, then sticks with residential if a network keeps blocking.
- 💾 **Live saving** — every result is pushed to the dataset as soon as it's validated. A crash never wipes finished work.
- 📊 **Six dataset views** — Overview, Syntax, Mail Server, Disposable, Role-Based, and Full Details for quick filtering.

### ✨ Key features

- ✅ Bulk input (paste hundreds of addresses)
- ✅ Live, friendly progress logs with per-email decisions
- ✅ Output filtering (`accept`, `review`, `reject`, `all`)
- ✅ Configurable timeout, concurrency, and fail-fast behavior
- ✅ Per-section dataset views for easy slicing in the Apify Console
- ✅ Summary blob saved to the key-value store (`OUTPUT`)
- ✅ Works with the standard Apify proxy or zero-proxy direct DNS

### 📥 Input

```json
{
  "emails": [
    "raisulislam998@gmail.com",
    "info@example.com",
    "user@mailinator.com"
  ],
  "checkMX": true,
  "checkDisposable": true,
  "checkRoleBased": true,
  "failFast": true,
  "timeout": 5000,
  "concurrency": 25,
  "outputFilter": "all",
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}
````

| Field | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| `emails` | array | — | Email addresses to validate. **Required.** |
| `checkMX` | boolean | `true` | Verify the domain has a working mail server. |
| `checkDisposable` | boolean | `true` | Flag throw-away email providers. |
| `checkRoleBased` | boolean | `true` | Flag generic mailboxes (info@, support@, …). |
| `failFast` | boolean | `true` | Skip MX lookup when earlier checks already fail. |
| `timeout` | integer | `5000` | DNS lookup timeout in milliseconds. |
| `concurrency` | integer | `25` | Number of parallel validations (1–50). |
| `outputFilter` | string | `all` | Restrict dataset to `accept` / `review` / `reject`. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | direct | Optional Apify proxy config used only when direct DNS is blocked. |

### 📤 Output (dataset row)

```json
{
  "email": "raisulislam998@gmail.com",
  "valid": true,
  "score": 1.0,
  "risk": "LOW",
  "recommendation": "ACCEPT",
  "processingTimeMs": 76.87,
  "domain": "gmail.com",
  "localPart": "raisulislam998",
  "normalizedEmail": "raisulislam998@gmail.com",
  "syntaxValid": true,
  "syntaxMessage": "Valid email syntax",
  "mxValid": true,
  "mxMessage": "5 MX records found",
  "mxRecords": [
    "alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com",
    "alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com",
    "alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com",
    "alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com",
    "gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com"
  ],
  "disposableValid": true,
  "disposableMessage": "Not a disposable email",
  "roleBasedValid": true,
  "roleBasedMessage": "Not a role-based email",
  "validation": {
    "syntax": true,
    "domain": true,
    "mailServer": true,
    "disposable": true,
    "roleBased": true
  },
  "fullDetails": {
    "syntax":      { "valid": true, "message": "Valid email syntax", "normalized": "raisulislam998@gmail.com", "local": "raisulislam998", "domain": "gmail.com" },
    "domain":      { "valid": true, "message": "Domain is not reserved" },
    "mxRecords":   { "valid": true, "message": "5 MX records found", "records": ["…"] },
    "disposable":  { "valid": true, "message": "Not a disposable email" },
    "roleBased":   { "valid": true, "message": "Not a role-based email" }
  }
}
```

The same fields appear in the dataset views (Overview, Syntax, Mail Server, Disposable, Role-Based, Full Details), so you can slice the results without writing transformations.

#### Risk scoring

| Score | Risk | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ 0.80 | 🟢 LOW | ✅ ACCEPT |
| 0.50 – 0.79 | 🟡 MEDIUM | ⚠️ REVIEW |
| < 0.50 | 🔴 HIGH | ❌ REJECT |

### 🚀 How to use the Actor

1. Open [Apify Console → Actors](https://console.apify.com/actors).
2. Find **Email Address Validator** and click it.
3. Paste your addresses into the **📧 Email Addresses** field.
4. Tweak the toggles and concurrency to match your batch size.
5. Click **▶️ Start** and watch the progress log paint your results in real time.
6. Open the **Storage → Dataset** tab — pick a view (Overview, Mail Server, …) and export as JSON / CSV / Excel.
7. The full summary blob (counts, timing, proxy mix) is stored as `OUTPUT` in the key-value store.

### 💡 Best use cases

- Cleaning newsletter / CRM / outbound lists before sending campaigns
- Real-time signup validation (server side, behind your own API)
- Lead quality scoring in sales pipelines
- Fraud / abuse triage — auto-rejecting disposable-only signups
- Pre-flight checks before any costly downstream enrichment

### ❓ Frequently asked questions

**Does this verify the inbox actually exists?**
No — verifying delivery requires sending real SMTP traffic, which is rate-limited and detectable. This actor checks everything you can confirm without contacting the destination, which catches the vast majority of bad addresses.

**Why is `info@example.com` flagged?**
`info@` is a role-based mailbox and `example.com` is a reserved test domain — that combination is rejected by design.

**What about Gmail aliases like `john+sale@gmail.com`?**
Syntax is valid, the local part doesn't match a role prefix, and Gmail has working MX records — so the address scores fine.

**Can I run this on millions of addresses?**
Yes. The default 25-way concurrency comfortably hits a few thousand validations per minute. Increase memory and `concurrency` for higher throughput; the actor caches DNS results per domain so duplicates are essentially free.

**What happens if my network gets blocked?**
The actor escalates: direct → datacenter proxy → residential proxy (sticky, 3 retries). Each escalation is logged so you can see exactly when the switch happened.

### 🆘 Support and feedback

Found a bug or want a new feature? Open a run with the failing input and share the run ID. Issue reports and feature requests are welcome via the Apify Console messaging.

### ⚠️ Legal & ethical notes

- Validate only addresses you have a lawful basis to process (consent, contract, legitimate interest).
- Respect applicable laws (GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL, …).
- This actor does not contact the mail server during validation — it relies purely on DNS and pattern checks.

# Actor input Schema

## `emails` (type: `array`):

List of email addresses to validate. Paste one address per line or use bulk input. Supports unlimited entries — they will be processed concurrently.

## `checkMX` (type: `boolean`):

Confirm the domain has working mail servers configured via DNS MX lookup.

## `checkDisposable` (type: `boolean`):

Flag throw-away / temporary email providers (5400+ domains tracked).

## `checkRoleBased` (type: `boolean`):

Flag generic mailboxes like info@, support@, admin@, no-reply@.

## `failFast` (type: `boolean`):

Skip expensive checks (MX) when earlier checks already mark the address as invalid. Saves time on large batches.

## `timeout` (type: `integer`):

Maximum time to wait for a single DNS lookup before giving up.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many email addresses to validate in parallel (1–50).

## `outputFilter` (type: `string`):

Restrict the dataset to a single recommendation bucket.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Select proxies for DNS lookups when direct resolution fails or is blocked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "emails": [
    "hello@company.com",
    "info@example.com",
    "user@mailinator.com",
    "john.risk@gmail.com"
  ],
  "checkMX": true,
  "checkDisposable": true,
  "checkRoleBased": true,
  "failFast": true,
  "timeout": 5000,
  "concurrency": 25,
  "outputFilter": "all",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "emails": [
        "hello@company.com",
        "info@example.com",
        "user@mailinator.com",
        "john.risk@gmail.com"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapier/email-address-validator").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "emails": [
        "hello@company.com",
        "info@example.com",
        "user@mailinator.com",
        "john.risk@gmail.com",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapier/email-address-validator").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "emails": [
    "hello@company.com",
    "info@example.com",
    "user@mailinator.com",
    "john.risk@gmail.com"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call scrapier/email-address-validator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapier/email-address-validator",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Email Address Validator",
        "description": null,
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "1gxZCG60wppl78AI4"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/scrapier~email-address-validator/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapier-email-address-validator",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapier~email-address-validator/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-scrapier-email-address-validator",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/scrapier~email-address-validator/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-scrapier-email-address-validator",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "emails"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "emails": {
                        "title": "📧 Email Addresses",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "List of email addresses to validate. Paste one address per line or use bulk input. Supports unlimited entries — they will be processed concurrently.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "checkMX": {
                        "title": "🌐 Verify Mail Server (MX Records)",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Confirm the domain has working mail servers configured via DNS MX lookup.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "checkDisposable": {
                        "title": "🚫 Detect Disposable Domains",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Flag throw-away / temporary email providers (5400+ domains tracked).",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "checkRoleBased": {
                        "title": "👥 Detect Role-Based Addresses",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Flag generic mailboxes like info@, support@, admin@, no-reply@.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "failFast": {
                        "title": "⚡ Fail Fast Mode",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "Skip expensive checks (MX) when earlier checks already mark the address as invalid. Saves time on large batches.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "timeout": {
                        "title": "⏱️ Lookup Timeout (ms)",
                        "minimum": 1000,
                        "maximum": 300000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum time to wait for a single DNS lookup before giving up.",
                        "default": 5000
                    },
                    "concurrency": {
                        "title": "🚀 Concurrency",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 50,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "How many email addresses to validate in parallel (1–50).",
                        "default": 25
                    },
                    "outputFilter": {
                        "title": "🔍 Output Filter",
                        "enum": [
                            "all",
                            "accept",
                            "review",
                            "reject"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Restrict the dataset to a single recommendation bucket.",
                        "default": "all"
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Select proxies for DNS lookups when direct resolution fails or is blocked."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```